Daniel Craig leads an eleven-actor ensemble cast as Benoit Blanc, a famed private detective who is summoned to investigate the death of the bestselling author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).

He devised a framework of tonal shifts to escalate tension between the characters, and informed elements of the story with his experience of coping with culture war backlash to The Last Jedi.

[8] Johnson hoped to commit to Knives Out after the release of his science fiction thriller Looper (2012) but he suspended the project when Lucasfilm hired him to direct Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).

[14] Johnson's longtime collaborator Ram Bergman disputed this account; according to him, no auction was held and MRC was always the intended financier because of its sustained success with mass-market films by auteurs—directors who wield significant autonomy over the artistic vision of their projects.

He drew upon the Agatha Christie movies—chiefly Peter Ustinov-starred projects à la Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982)—for his casting choices because he felt they have a sense of spectacle that was worth replicating.

[6] Craig undertook speech training with a dialect coach for two-to-three hours per day, studying playwright Tennessee Williams and author Shelby Foote via interview footage from C-SPAN and the Ken Burns-helmed docuseries The Civil War (1990) to model Blanc's voice.

Vernieu and the filmmakers did not favor a particular person for the part, unlike the other Knives Out characters, and based their search on Johnson's preference for a relatively unknown actor that could exhibit an underdog-like quality.

[33][34] When Johnson met de Armas for her audition, he noticed her ability to emote, saying: "She's got that Audrey Hepburn-type thing, where her eyes just bring you in, and you're instantly on her side, and that's what we needed for the character.

[47] Elsewhere in Greater Boston, scenes were filmed near an MBTA passenger rail station in downtown Natick; a private, mid-century modern estate in Lincoln, Canton, Wellesley, Waltham, Medfield; and an unoccupied, state-owned facility in Marlborough that was chosen for its round shape.

[55] Yedlin and production members used action-building techniques that centered on Robert Altman's cinematic style, through a complex system of whip pans, zooming, and camera dolly movements.

[55] Part of Knives Out's production was devoted to realizing a specialized process of color grading for the film's visual effects, based on qualitative data collected from Yedlin's field research.

[55] The script contained few details about the design of the Thrombey residence, so the clearest vision of the estate emerged from conversations about aesthetics between Johnson, Crank, and the set decorator David Schlesinger.

[62][64] Nathan and Rian were inspired for Knives Out's musical direction by their favorite symphonic movie scores, such as Death on the Nile (1978), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and the compositions of Bernard Herrmann.

[66] Johnson regarded whodunits as well suited to scrutinization of institutional power, a belief influenced by Christie's writings, work he considers indicative of an apolitical woman who was attuned to British society throughout her life.

[70][71] Knives Out makes literal class struggle by framing Harlan's death as an explicit tale of good versus evil, and Cabrera emerges as the hero because of her humanity.

[76][77] For this reason, in Nulman's interpretation, Harlan's suicide and transfer of wealth to Cabrera are subversive acts that, alongside the Thrombeys' vilification of Cabrera—mirroring the status quo's counter-revolutionary force—lend credence to the idea capitalist exploitation can only be addressed by revolution.

Knives Out concentrates on a critique of white supremacy and liberal paternalism, comically depicting the Thrombey–Cabrera relationship through condescending affection and running gags about Cabrera's country of origin.

[7] The first shift arranges the plot as a thriller by establishing Cabrera's reckoning with the manner of Harlan's death, her own implication in it, and her quest to evade the investigation's purview as causes of conflict, thus framing Blanc as the antagonist.

Early tactics focused on feel-good messaging, the film's campy humor, and Thrombey family enterprises—the latter-most featuring Shannon, Collette, and Curtis in character—through video parodies and mock advertisements that were developed using website-building platforms.

[92] Industry professionals saw Knives Out as a potential hit based on sustained interest from enthusiastic pre-release reviews, the film's unique self-referentiality, and the ensemble's star power, especially that of Evans, Craig, and Curtis.

[93] Physical copies include deleted scenes; a behind-the-scenes featurette; audio commentary from Johnson, Yedlin, and Noah Segan; an eight-part documentary; advertisements; and previously unaired press interviews.

[87] CinemaScore polls that were conducted during the opening night found moviegoers gave the film an average grade of A− on a scale of A+ to F. Screenings attracted mostly men, and approximately 73% were over 25 years of age, 46% were over 35, and 63% were white.

[106] The Christmas period saw reinvigorated ticket sales in France, Australia, and the UK, and in Russia, the New Year holiday increased the film's box office take by 152% over the previous week.

[c] Film critics had high regard for director Rian's comic treatment of a traditional detective story;[d] it was described as "enjoyably, wackily serpentine",[118] noted by The New Yorker for its sardonic humor and "sheen of smugness".

[119] Although comparisons to source material based on tenor, humor, craftmanship, and faithfulness varied among professional opinions,[e] the story's play on perspective among the characters produced favorable responses.

[118] The writing's political consciousness was cited as among the strengths of Knives Out,[115][117][123] although the handling of ideas received occasional disapproval from others, such as The New York Times' Manohla Dargis, and Uproxx, for being perceived as too vapid to resonate.

[117] Media somewhat focused on Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas, but also gave individual notices to Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Christopher Plummer, and Noah Segan for their acting.

[79] De Armas, whose portrayal was described as "superb" and "wonderful",[127][132] drew similarly strong assessments of her character work from the likes of San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle and The Atlantic, among others, in what was considered a breakout performance.

The website's critics' consensus reads: "Knives Out sharpens old murder-mystery tropes with a keenly assembled suspense outing that makes brilliant use of writer-director Rian Johnson's stellar ensemble".

[173] In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Blanc journeys to tech magnate Miles Bron's (Edward Norton) murder-mystery-themed retreat to mingle with his circle of friends but the event goes awry when two partygoers die in suspicious circumstances.